Dayton backs Obama on jobs bill

Gov. Mark Dayton has President Obama's back on the embattled $447 billion jobs bill, which the Minnesota Democrat praised after a White House meeting Thursday with Bill Daley, President Obama's chief of staff. The meeting came two days after the U.S. Senate blocked the bill in a Republican-led filibuster. The administration has vowed to press on with the legislation, either in whole or in parts. Rejecting the jobs bill, Dayton said, is "the wrong thing for the people of Minnesota, and the wrong thing for the people of this country… We as governors know how vital this is for our states." Dayton appeared at the White House with two other Democratic governors, Martin O'Malley of Maryland and Christine Gregoire of Washington State. Dayton, in Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Association, met earlier in the day with other governors and senators on Capitol Hill. He also met with Senate and House Democrats on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. While some in Washington are pessimistic about a deficit reduction deal, Dayton said there's hope. "It's not foreordained that they will be successful, but it's not foreordained that they won't," he said. "If there's a willingness on the other side to be reasonable and take a balanced approach, then I'm hopeful they can succeed."